Search - Lena Horne :: Watch What Happens!

100% underrated CD!!

Walter P. Kramer | Jacksonville, Florida United States | 06/25/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This is my favorite by Lena!!Fabuous songs and arrangements!I have own this in LP, casette, and two CD's and never had I got tired of this. I am always looking for a remastered version of this extraordinary CD!!I have followed it around for 30 years and wait patiently for the remastered to hit the limited market."

Masterpiece!

SIMON AGUILAR-GARCIA | Seattle, Wa. USA | 05/06/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Deep soulful vocals by Lena and Gabor's exquisite notes combine to make a very "soul stirring" experience."

It Tends Toward the Mellow Melancholic, When You're In the M

Stephanie DePue | Carolina Beach, NC USA | 03/16/2009

(3 out of 5 stars)

""Watch What Happens" was recorded by Lena Horne and Gabor Szabo at A & R Recording Studios, New York City, in November 1969, and was released by prestigious, but short-lived, Skye Records, a label that had been cofounded in the early 1960's by Szabo, Cal Tjader, and Gary McFarland. The record was arranged and conducted by Gary McFarland; it has been remastered. Szabo was a Hungarian jazz guitarist who was known for venturing into pop rock occasionally - he particularly liked feedback-- and utilizing Hungarian folk themes in his work. He had escaped from Hungary after the uprising of 1956 that was crushed by the Soviet Union, and was soon thereafter invited to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival: even so, he always felt under-appreciated as a jazz player on this side of the Atlantic. Be that as it may, from 1961-1965, he played with the Chico Hamilton Quintet. And before he ventured to make this record, he had backed Horne at the Nugget Hotel, in Nevada in November 1966, and at Caesar's Palace, Las Vegas, in September 1969. So he and Horne were well-acquainted.



The diva, who was born in Brooklyn in 1917, has had an extremely long career, as a pop/jazz/Broadway/cabaret performer, that ran from 1938, when she was discovered singing and dancing at Harlem's famous Cotton Club, to 2000. She's been famous since 1943, on the after stream of her worldwide hit "Stormy Weather," from the movie of the same name (Stormy Weather) that was made at 20th Century Fox, while she was a young beauty on loan from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. (Although it must be said that, at that time and place, her career was greatly limited by her color.)



Horne, who was blacklisted in the 1950's for her political beliefs, has won many awards in her long career. Several Grammies, including a Lifetime Achievement Award; an NAACP Image Award for her civil rights work, and a Kennedy Center Award. She has headlined at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, Carnegie Hall in New York, and the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria in New York - her 1957 live album, "Lena Horne at the Waldorf-Astoria" was the largest selling record by a female artist in RCA history. She has made many, many television appearances. But, as she is now well into her nineties, she no longer appears in public.



The record at hand features some distinguished performers. Richard Tee on organ; Grady Tate on drums; Chuck Rainey on bass; Eric Gayle on guitar; bluesman Cornell Dupree on guitar, and The Howard Roberts Chorale. It tends toward the mellow melancholic, while offering several Beatles works: "Something," "The Fool on the Hill," "Rocky Raccoon," and "In My Life;" as well as " Everybody's Talkin',"by Fred Neil, "Yesterday When I Was Young," by Charles Aznavour, and "A Message to Michael," by Burt Bacharach. It's out of print, but the songs may be downloaded here, when you're in the mood.





"